


Four Times Dick Came Out (And One Time Someone Else Did)

by Literally_No_One_Cares



Series: Birdflash One-Shots [5]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Coming Out, M/M, Protective Bruce Wayne, idk how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 22:18:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6347755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Literally_No_One_Cares/pseuds/Literally_No_One_Cares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Does what it says on the tin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Dick Came Out (And One Time Someone Else Did)

**Author's Note:**

> This was bouncing around in my head for awhile, so I wrote it down.

At thirteen years old, Dick knew he was different. Really, he'd known for longer than that that he was pretty weird, he was a former circus performer adopted by Batman, but he'd noticed something relatively new that made him even more different: he wasn't very attracted to girls. Puberty had arrived, and he had had no... _urges_ when it came to the fairer sex. At all. Not that he didn't have any urges in general, that wasn't it; they just weren't the urges he had really been expecting.

And that wasn’t exactly asterous for Dick. He had no problem with being gay, that was fine with him, but he wasn't sure how the people around him would feel about it. For one, there was Bruce. He had absolutely no idea what Bruce’s opinion would be. It wasn't a thing that Bruce talked about, so Dick had no way of knowing if he would be able to tell Bruce at all, and whether he’d underwhelmed, overwhelmed, or just plain whelmed.

He was also a bit worried about coming out to the team. Wally’d probably be just fine with it, since he was Dick’s best friend, but he wasn't sure about the rest of them. He didn't know what gay people were treated like under water, and he had no idea if sexuality on Mars was anything like it was on earth. Superboy was another unknown, with his very limited knowledge of, well, everything, and he'd never heard Artemis express an opinion either way, like Bruce.

He decided to start with Bruce, which wasn't his best idea. In hindsight, he probably should have come out to Wally first, but it was too late to take it back.

It went like this:

“Bruce, can I talk to you about something important?” His guardian was going over financial papers for his business, but sat them down when Dick came in.

“Of course,” he said, with a touch of fatherly care in his voice that would have been unnoticed by anyone that wasn't close to him.

Dick drew in a breath. “I'm gay.”

Without missing a beat, “No you're not,” left Bruce’s mouth, he stood, and left Dick standing in the study, confused.

* * *

At thirteen and a half, Dick knew he was gay. Definitely. And even if Bruce said he wasn't, he knew he was. How did he know?

Wally.

After meeting a brick wall with Bruce, he had been a bit discouraged about telling anyone else, and waited a few months before telling Wally.

It went like this:

“Dude, can I tell you something?” Wally was half asleep, sprawled across the couch, and they were the only ones in the room.

“Anything, man,” the redhead said lazily, not even lifting his head.

“I'm gay,” Dick told him, almost whispering.

Wally’s head came up off the couch. “Dude, cool. I'm pan. Girls are hot, guys are hot, and everything in between,” he laughed.

Dick grinned. “Really? I had no clue.” And while he meant that, he really should have noticed, with all the flirting with the speedster did with literally anything that walked (including him).

Oh no. Dick had a crush on Wally. Not asterous.

“Do you think Supes likes dudes? I bet he'd be, like, amazing in--”

“Dude, ew. I don't want to think about Conner like that,” Dick groaned, but he was still smiling at his best friend.

“Do you like someone? Oh my god, is it Roy?” Wally questioned.

“No, Roy’s too old for me,” he replied, rolling his eyes behind his shades:

“Wanna know who _I_ like?” Wally said, stretching the end of the question out, motioning for Dick to come closer. “You!” he exclaimed, shooting up from the couch and wrapping his arms around the smaller boy in a tight hug.

“Ha ha, very funny,” the boy wonder said dryly.

“Dude, come on, I'm serious,” Wally whined. He pressed his face into Dick’s neck, and _holy homosexuality, Batman_ , Dick was very very gay.

Definitely feeling the aster.

* * *

At fourteen, Dick was getting impatient. He wanted Bruce to understand how he felt, he wanted his adoptive father to realize that he was old enough to know what he wanted. He thought maybe after a year, Bruce would be more willing to listen to him, so he tried telling him again.

It went like this:

“Bruce.”

Silence.

“ _Bruce_ ,” Dick sighed, hating that he could already tell what was about to happen.

He stared at Bruce, indignant. Why wouldn't he just listen to Dick? This was the only thing that he couldn't get Bruce to talk about.

“Bruce, I know you don't want me to say it but--”

“No.”

And that was it. That was all he got before, in true Batman fashion, his guardian slunk away, sulky and brooding.

Dick totally wasn't crying the minute Bruce left the room. He just had something in his eye.

* * *

At two months from fifteen, Dick was frustrated. The whole team knew all about him and Wally, and Wally’s aunt and uncle, too, but Bruce still wouldn't let him get the word gay out of his mouth without completely shutting him down.

It's Wally’s idea, the way Dick finally gets through to him.

It went like this:

Batman had to take a turn babysitting the team. All the other League members had other things to do, so it was the perfect opportunity to show him that, without any doubt, his young ward was gay.

They were all watching a movie, and Bruce had almost silently (enough that someone who wasn't a trained vigilante wouldn't notice) come in and stood against the wall. Dick was leaning into Wally’s side on the couch, with the speedster’s arm around his shoulders, but that wasn't enough.

The boy wonder reached over and laced their fingers together, and Wally turned his head slightly, just right, so that Batman could see him grin before leaning in and pecking Dick’s lips.

There was an intake of breath that wouldn't have sounded out of the ordinary to anyone but Dick. He knew that Bruce had seen it. He knew that Bruce would be talking to him later. But he also knew that the man finally got that Dick really was gay.

Later, Batman and Robin went back to Gotham via zeta tube. Bruce didn't say much (read: he didn't breathe a single word) for most of the evening. It wasn't until Dick was near falling asleep that Bruce came in and sat on the edge of his bed.

“I'm sorry.” Ok, that wasn't what Dick had been expecting. “I just don't want you to get hurt.”

Dick was very, very confused. “The press, they can be brutal, Dick. I didn't want you to have to be Bruce Wayne’s gay son.”

Bruce was trying to protect him? “I know you can't change your sexuality, but I hoped you weren't sure, that maybe you weren't gay, and you wouldn't have to go through the harassment.”

Dick was totally crying.

* * *

At sixteen, Dick was absolutely mortified. Granted, he really shouldn't have burst into Bruce’s bedroom like that, but he had knocked and received no answer.

There, in the bed, was Bruce, very naked but thankfully under the covers, with an equally naked Clark Kent (a.k.a. Superman, but nobody was supposed to know that Dick knew that).

“You've got to be kidding me,” Dick groaned, covering his eyes with his hands. “You can't be serious, Bruce. I mean, you thought the press would be rough on Bruce Wayne's gay son, but you're literally _screwing the press_. `Bruce Wayne and his charity case kid are both gay, and Bruce Wayne is sleeping with the actual press.’”

He heard a series of choked down noises of discomfort, presumably from Clark. “I don't really know what to say,” Bruce said calmly.

“Let's just hope Cat Grant doesn't hear about this,” Dick mumbled. “Ok, I'm going to go back out into the hall and pretend I didn't see anything, and you two can pretend I was never here.”

Dick had a hard time making eye contact with Superman for a month.

**Author's Note:**

> I think "holy homosexuality, Batman," is my favorite thing I've ever written.


End file.
